


Afterimage

by Reis_Asher



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Dark Will Graham, Established Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal Lecter is a Cannibal, Hannibal is dead, M/M, Murder Husbands, Past Cannibalism, Past Character Death, Past Violence, Post-Canon, Reminiscing, Will Graham is a Cannibal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:08:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25801894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: Jack Crawford has chased Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham across twenty years and six continents, but it takes a letter from one William Lecter-Graham to finally catch up to them in a remote part of Scotland.Hannibal is dead, but Will's still playing his game, hoping to sow the seeds of darkness and discord his husband loved so much. In one final act of love and devotion, Will gives himself up, knowing the only way to preserve their legacy of violence and romance is to coax Freddie Lounds into writing their story.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 5
Kudos: 112





	Afterimage

Jack Crawford stood with his gun pointed at Will in his dining room, surrounded by expensive tapestries. A real wood fire crackled in the hearth. The old castle in the remote wilderness of Scotland had proven a good place for Hannibal and Will's retirement, once they'd finished with their travels. Nobody seemed to notice the occasional disappearance of a hiker in these parts. They'd led a good life here—a decadent one, far from the long arm of the law.

Will could only smile at Jack's threat, like the weapon in Jack's hand was a mere toy. Death no longer frightened him. Jack himself seemed like a mirage. He'd barely aged a day, as if he'd stepped out of twenty years ago with nothing more than white hair. It didn't seem real that Jack was here at all, even though Will knew he was coming. He'd summoned him, after all. 

"I've been chasing you for years," Jack said, and Will could hear the barely-disguised contempt in his voice. "Across six continents and two dozen aliases."

"Does it stick in your craw that you never caught me? That I'm giving myself up, just as Hannibal surrendered all those years ago?"

"What rankles is that you signed your letter William Lecter-Graham," Jack replied. The venom was thick in his tone, and Will realized it had poisoned him over the years, bringing out the darkness in Jack in much the same way Hannibal had drawn the evil out in Will. The pain of Will's betrayal still sat with him, but the empath in Will understood. Will had been the closest thing Jack had to a son, and he'd married the Devil, betraying every ideal Jack held sacred along the way. "Where is Hannibal?"

"Hannibal is dead," Will explained.

"Did you kill him?" Hope flared in Jack's eyes, and Will let loose a crazed laugh. Even now, Jack longed for Will's redemption arc, as if it could ever be possible to sweep his acts of violence underneath the rug and forget about them.

"In a manner of speaking. Though it was more in the style of Dr. Kevorkian than Dr. Hannibal Lecter, you'll be disappointed to learn."

"He was ill?" Jack bit his lip.

"Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease. Transmitted by eating contaminated meat. I'm sure you consider that apropos." Will had always wondered whose organs had killed the man he loved, and if he was to endure the same fate as Hannibal. The incubation period of the disease was anything from ten to fifty years. "It was Hannibal's wish to die before he lost his dignity."

"Ah, yes. His dignity." Jack's face screwed up, and Will wasn't sure if he was disgusted that Hannibal had died on his own terms, or if the thought of Will granting a merciful death to his spouse reminded him of Bella.

"You can lower the gun, Jack. I'm caught."

"If it's all right with you, I'll keep it trained on you until the police arrive."

"You didn't bring them with you?"

"I've chased enough false leads over the years. Excuse me for expecting this to be another waste of my time. Besides, I was hoping we could have a little chat."

"Like old times?" Will smiled with a snort. "You going to offer me a deal, Jack?"

"I'm not in any position to do so, and I wouldn't if I had the opportunity. I just want to know why, Will. You were a good man. Awkward, perhaps. Unusual, definitely. But not evil."

"You didn't know me," Will said. "My person suit was better than most. Even I didn't know I was wearing one. Freddie knew, though. She figured it out from the beginning. She saw me and was rightly afraid of me."

Jack tightened his grip on the gun, and Will chuckled. "Still can't believe you married her. Guess you liked binding her wrists with zip ties and threatening her a little too much, huh? Be careful, Jack. That's how it starts."

"Shut up. I'm nothing like you."

"No. No, you're not." Will glanced around at the home he'd built with Hannibal. It was over, now. Hannibal was in the ground. He'd thought about putting his gun to his head at Hannibal's graveside and pulling the trigger to be with his soulmate, but that wasn't the right kind of poetry for the occasion. Hannibal deserved to live on in legend, and the story of their love had yet to be told. 

Luckily, Will now had the captive audience he needed and the tools to get it done. He'd be spending a lot of time behind glass at the Baltimore State Hospital For The Criminally Insane, and Freddie wouldn't be able to hold back on writing his biography. Once the story of their bloody marriage was told, then he could spend out his days playing with his visitors and indulging his whims.

There was no time like the present to start telling the tale. He reached for the hem of his faded grey t-shirt and pulled it up, exposing the scars all over his chest, arms, shoulders, and back. Jack's lips parted slightly, his pupils dilating in horror.

"Hannibal wanted to eat me more than anyone in the world," Will whispered. "I let him have a taste, now and then. It's quite bizarre, sharing your own kidney with your husband. Yet intimate. He always treated my organs and muscles like the finest cuts of wagyu beef. It made me feel… treasured." Will closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh, remembering how the scalpel felt cutting into his skin. He'd always insisted on being awake, partly to keep an eye on Hannibal, but partly to relish the fear of being completely at Hannibal's mercy. Hannibal had never gone over the line, though, not since consummating their marriage over Dolarhyde's corpse. The thought of losing his partner in the hunt had clearly been enough to keep Hannibal's darkest appetites at bay.

"You're a monster," Jack snarled. "I should kill you before you can taint anyone else."

"That's the most sensible suggestion you've made yet," Will said. "You haven't even seen below the belt. Let's just say Hannibal had an egg for breakfast one day."

"Jesus Christ. You're insane." Jack looked like he was about to throw up, and Will enjoyed it, the smile crossing his lips genuine and sincere. Hannibal might have passed away, but he'd never left Will, not really. Will had long since taken the leap from tolerance to delight, enjoying the fact that his empathy allowed him to see just how deeply fear and disgust affected others. While they had once seen his strangeness as a curiosity, now it made them fear him, and it was the only power he'd ever held in his life. The only power he wanted was that which he shared with Hannibal, and he was glad to serve in all other matters.

Hannibal had sat in glory on his throne of darkness, his hold over Will's soul complete and absolute. Even in death, Hannibal delighted in Will's transformation and considered it his greatest work, Will was sure of it. Hannibal lived on inside Will as sure as if he'd eaten him. The manner of his death had made that impossible. _Tainted meat_ , Hannibal had said, regret in his voice. Under any other circumstances, Will would have made a meal of him. It was what he would have wanted. He would have consumed Hannibal's heart as he had in life, but the disease and the drugs would have made it poison.

Instead, Will would have to settle for enshrining their legacy in legend. Never mind Chilton's book _Hannibal The Cannibal_. Lounds' tell-all tome would make millions, and the former reporter for TattleCrime dot com would have to hear every sordid detail of their violent marriage as Will chose to tell it. In explicit detail. Curious minds across the world would know of the love between Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham, and long for something so pure and passionate.

Will couldn't wait to see the look on Freddie's face as he scared her through an inch of shatterproof glass. She'd take her stress and fear home to Jack, and it would break their marriage, as Hannibal had poisoned his marriage to Molly. Will didn't want Freddie Lounds, of course. He only wanted to see her suffer for the crime of knowing him in ways only Hannibal was meant to.

The police burst through the door, ordering Will down on the ground. Will knelt, hands in the air, recalling the moment Hannibal had surrendered to Jack out in front of Will's home in Wolf Trap. It felt like another life, now. His wedding ring felt heavy on his finger. They would take it from him, along with all his other worldly possessions and comforts.

_"I want you to know exactly where I am. That way you can always find me."_

The recollection of Hannibal's measured voice calmed him, and he knew everything was going to be all right. The smile stayed on Will's face as cold handcuffs slid around his wrists and locked tight. He was the victor in this game, just as Hannibal had won with his surrender. If only Jack had been able to pull the trigger, he might have stopped all that was yet to come, but he still clung to the last vestiges of his humanity.

Perhaps Will would be able to change that, with time.


End file.
